County manager forced out, commissioners raise taxes

Published: Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 08:46 PM.

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Gaston County Manager Jan Winters was forced to resign Thursday night after more than 11 years in the position.

Gaston County commissioners went into closed session, shortly after setting a new tax rate of 87 cents per $100 of property for the fiscal year that begins Monday. That’s a 3.5-cent increase from the current year.

They did not approve a new overall budget, meaning they must work out financial shortfalls soon on the new spending plan. Winters had recommended a 5.4-cent tax increase.

Commissioners spent about 30 minutes during the closed session discussing Winters’ job performance. They returned to open session and voted 4-1 to accept his resignation.

Commissioners Tom Keigher and Joe Carpenter declined to participate in the closed session after realizing there was an effort afoot to force Winters out. Both of them were gone by the time the others returned to open session.

Winters said publicly he had enjoyed working for the county and understood he had worked at the pleasure of the commission. He could not be reached for further comment after the meeting.

Gaston County Manager Jan Winters was forced to resign Thursday night after more than 11 years in the position.

Gaston County commissioners went into closed session, shortly after setting a new tax rate of 87 cents per $100 of property for the fiscal year that begins Monday. That’s a 3.5-cent increase from the current year.

They did not approve a new overall budget, meaning they must work out financial shortfalls soon on the new spending plan. Winters had recommended a 5.4-cent tax increase.

Commissioners spent about 30 minutes during the closed session discussing Winters’ job performance. They returned to open session and voted 4-1 to accept his resignation.

Commissioners Tom Keigher and Joe Carpenter declined to participate in the closed session after realizing there was an effort afoot to force Winters out. Both of them were gone by the time the others returned to open session.

Winters said publicly he had enjoyed working for the county and understood he had worked at the pleasure of the commission. He could not be reached for further comment after the meeting.

“He was very professional about it,” said Price. “He said he would simply move on.”

Backroom deal?

Winters, who came to Gaston County from Florida, made an annual salary of $171,030. He will be entitled to receive six months of severance pay, Price said.

Philbeck said he and the other three commissioners felt the county needed new leadership that was more in line with the ideals and direction of the commission.

“I respect Jan. I think he’s a good man,” he said. “But I think it was time for him to go.”

Philbeck and Brown were the only dissenters in the 5-2 vote to set the new tax rate. Williams said he would have voted against that tax increase, but he voted in favor of it in order to secure a vote from Fraley to oust Winters.

Williams said they weren’t happy with Winters’ suggestions on how to balance the budget, where to make cuts and how to be more fiscally conservative.

“For some time, we’ve been at a stalemate,” he said. “The board couldn’t come to any consensus on moving forward with a budget.

“I made it clear the only way I would support a tax increase was to move forward with making a change.”

After conferring with Williams and other commissioners earlier in the week, Philbeck asked Price to schedule a closed session at the end of Thursday’s meeting to discuss Winters’ job performance.

Keigher said he and Carpenter realized the closed session had been scheduled about two hours before the meeting. Before the vote to go into closed session, they spoke out against it.

“It’s evident that Joe and I were left out of any discussion or planning on this decision,” he said after the meeting. “I know in my gut a decision had already been made without the full board participating, which is improper and out of the public eye.”

He said that’s why he and Carpenter didn’t bother to go into the closed session meeting, nor to stick around for it to end.

“I can respect a majority decision of the board, but I cannot respect backroom deals where a decision was made,” he said. “Only a fool wouldn’t think it had been talked out.

“I’m guessing the reason Joe and I weren’t included is they probably sensed the man was doing an acceptable job in our opinion.”

“A fresh set of eyes”

Winters was present for roughly the last half of the closed session meeting, Price said. Price said he voted not to accept the resignation because he didn’t want to see Winters go.

In addition to the basic budget dispute, Price said “way more stuff came out during the closed session that I didn’t know about.” He declined to elaborate.

“I won’t say I’m shocked. I’ll just say I didn’t expect him to resign,” said Price. “I thought he’d probably leave us for a better job at some point in time.”

Williams said the majority of the commission wants a county manager who is more innovative, analytical and business minded, and a better leader who “can get us back on a fiscally responsible track.”

“I know (Winters) only had a certain amount of money to work with, but it didn’t seem he was willing to think outside the box on holding people accountable, and considering things like privatization,” said Williams.

Things had grown stale, he said.

“Oftentimes, familiarity breeds contentment,” said Williams. “That’s why county and city managers don’t hold their positions long. Sometimes you need somebody to come in with a fresh set of eyes to help move the county forward.”

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or on Twitter @GazetteMike.